During our last regularly scheduled podcast, we received an dispatch from Hong Kong written by one Janric. We already knew that there were somewhere in the neighborhood of 400,000 unlocked iPhones in China alone, and Janric confirmed that you can't walk down a Hong Kong alley without tripping over somebody that has one:
I just want to comment out on the news about the 400K iPhones that are loose in china. I'm based in Hong Kong and it's no secret that you can buy the iphone here almost anywhere. The iPhone is such a hit here that I can almost see 1 iPhone per day (excluding mine ofcourse). In my office alone, there are about 5 unlocked iPhones in use.
Don't believe it? Check out these photos that Janric snapped in an area of Causeway Bay - just a random two block stroll:
We've heard firsthand reports that it's pretty much the same situation on the opposite side of the planet (Sweden) as well. So basically it's as easy to get an unlocked iPhone in areas Apple hasn't made official yet as it is to get a locked-up one in the official zones. If Apple wants to get their preferred revenue sharing going in these places, they need to step up the pace of worldwide releases.
Thanks, Janric!
Reader comments
Unlocked iPhones All Over Hong Kong
Saying that "We already knew that there were somewhere in the neighborhood of 400,000 unlocked iPhones in China alone" is a bit misleading. We know what China Mobile said, but that could have simply been a leveraging move on their part in the current/future negotiations with Apple over revenue share. That there actually are 400,000 iPhones in China is certainly possible, but in reality we have no idea how many there are and given the fact that China Mobile has incentive to inflate the number I think it needs to be taken with a grain of salt. No matter what you believe it certainly shouldnt be reported as a confirmed fact and probably should be caveated.
Forget about that, I'm just wondering how many of those are nice knock-offs....especially when they are sitting next to some..not so nice Vertu Knock-offs.
Roughly how much is the unlocked version of the iphone 3g?
Check out here http://iphone-unlocked.com/3G.html